Nissan Motors vs. Nissan Computer

Nissan Motors vs. Nissan Computer was a lengthy court case between the two parties over use of the name Nissan and the domain name nissan.com.[1] The case has received national attention in the U.S.[2][3][4]

Background

Nissan Motor Corporation

Beginning in the late 1970s, Datsun began progressively fitting its cars with small "Nissan" and "Datsun by Nissan" badges. The company eventually changed its branding at 1,100 Datsun dealerships. In autumn 1981, Datsun announced that its name would be changed in the United States.[5] Between 1982 and 1986, the company transitioned from its "Datsun, We Are Driven!" to its "The Name is Nissan" campaign.[6] Five years after the name change program was over, cars in some export markets continued to display badges bearing both names and Datsun still remained more familiar than Nissan.[6][7]

Uzi Nissan

In 1980, Uzi Nissan founded Nissan Foreign Car, an automobile service, in Raleigh, North Carolina.[8][9] In 1987, Uzi Nissan founded Nissan International, Ltd, an import/export company that traded primarily in heavy equipment and computers.[10] On 14 May 1991, Uzi Nissan founded Nissan Computer Corporation, which provides sales and service of personal computers, servers, and computer parts, as well as internet hosting and development. Nissan Computer registered nissan.com for its use on 4 June 1994, five years prior to Nissan Motor Corporation's interest in the domain.[9][1]

Case

Nissan Motors considered Nissan Computer's use of the name to be trademark dilution, and laid claim to the domain by alleging cyber squatting. However, Nissan Computer was named after its owner, Uzi Nissan.[11][12][13] Following the outcome of the case, Nissan Motors uses the name nissanusa.com for its U.S. website.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Anderson, Mark K. (2001-01-03). "Who Gets to Drive Nissan.com?". Wired. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  2. ↑ Leonard, Andrew (2002-06-03). "Nissan vs. Nissan". Salon. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  3. ↑ "Nissan vs. Nissan". IEEE Spectrum Careers. Archived from the original on 2005-12-02. Retrieved 2006-05-24.
  4. ↑ "Nissan Motor Co. v. Nissan Computer Corp., and the Evolving Law of Trademark Dilution on the Internet". TrademarkDilution.com. Retrieved 2006-05-24.
  5. ↑ Aaker, David A. Managing Brand Equity : Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New York: The Free Press, 1991 ISBN 0-02-900101-3 Chapter 3, Pg. 57
  6. 1 2 What's in a name? - ZCCA
  7. ↑ Aaker, David A. Managing Brand Equity : Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New York: The Free Press, 1991 ISBN 0-02-900101-3 Chapter 3, Pg. 56
  8. ↑ Nissan, Uzi. "Nissan Foreign Car". Digest.com. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  9. 1 2 Nissan, Uzi. "Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer". Digest.com. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  10. ↑ Nissan, Uzi. "Nissan International". Digest.com. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  11. ↑ "Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer" (PDF). citizen.org. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  12. ↑ A., Daniel (2011-04-09). "Why Nissan.com Isn’t a Car Website". Yale Law & Technology. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  13. ↑ "Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer". Nissan Computer Corporation. Retrieved 2006-05-24.
  14. ↑ "Nissan USA". Retrieved 2014-02-11.
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